English
evitative
Evitative comes from Latin ēvītāre ‘to avoid’, from vitō ‘to shun’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to chase, pursue’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyh₁-1‘to chase, pursue’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitō2as vītāre‘to shun’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītāre2‘to avoid’
- Englishearliest quotation 1986evitative2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin vito
- 2 Wiktionary, English evitative
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1986, Language: “The non-past non-evitative potential corresponds both to the English…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyh₁-Wiktionary, Latin vito‘to chase, pursue’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitōWiktionary, English evitativeas vītāre‘to shun’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītāreWiktionary, English evitative‘to avoid’
- Englishearliest quotation 1986evitativeWiktionary, English evitative. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1986, Language: “The non-past non-evitative potential corresponds both to the English…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to chase, pursue’
previous, obvious, violent, virtual, voyage, virtue, violation, convey, vengeance, envoy, violate, trivial, vis, trivia, virtuous, avenge, wer, deviation, virtuoso, venison, ochre, deviant, viaduct, vindication, vim, virile, inviolable, virility, violator, virago, trivium, obviate, 50 more
through Latin ēvītāre ‘to avoid’
Today it means
adj grammatically expressing the notion that something is avoided or feared: a grammatical mood found in some Australian Aboriginal languages.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “evitative”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin vito. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- / evitative